Design | Spaces | Innovation

Month: August 2014

Celebrating Freedom

In just a couple of days India will be celebrating its 68th Indepence Day. We all know the rich history of this country, KGD-Architecture lists 50 lesser known facts about India, lets see how many of you know these:

Indian Flag

The name `India’ is derived from the River Indus, the valleys around which were the home of the first inhabitants of India.

North Korea, South Korea, Bahrain and Republic of the Congo share their independence day with India.

India is the world’s largest producer of tea, milk and mangoes and also the second largest producer of wheat and rice, the world’s major food staples.

Lord Krishna and Radha playing chess, which was known as Chaturanga in ancient days

Ancient board of Snakes and Ladder ( depicted in Jain Miniature)

“Chess” and “Snakes and Ladders” were invented in India.

India never invaded any country in her last 10,000 years of history.

The world’s largest road network is in India-over 1.9 million miles of roads cover the country.

Cherrapunji (Meghalaya) is the wettest spot on earth. It receives at least 425 inches of rain every year, which is over 5 times more than the tropical rain forests of South America!

With around 155,618 post offices and over 566,000 employees, India has the largest postal network in the world.

Indian Railways is the single largest civilian employer in the world, with over a million employees.

State Bank of India has the maximum number of branches in the world, with the number being over 15,000 and counting.

The value of “pi” was first calculated by the Indian Mathematician Budhayana, who also explained the Pythagorean Theorem.

India is one of only three countries that makes supercomputers (the US and Japan are the other two).

Navi Mumbai Skyline

Navi Mumbai, a planned satellite township of Mumbai, was developed in 1972 and is the largest planned township on the planet.

India produces more movies than any other country in the world and Bollywood is the largest film industry in the world.

The B in “Bollywood” comes from Bombay, the former name for Mumbai. Almost all Bollywood movies are musicals.

There are 300,000 active mosques in India, more than in any other country, including the Muslim world.

India has no National Language. Hindi and English are the official languages of India. The government also recognizes 22 other languages and about 1,652 dialects are spoken in the country

The official Sanskrit name for India is Bharat Ganarajya. Even today, it is often called Bharat by young and old.

Because so many Indians speak English, India now has the largest population of English speakers in the world.

100 million people come to India’s Kumbh Mela Festival, in Allahabad, the world’s biggest gathering of humans.

India was the only known source of diamonds until diamonds were discovered in Brazil in the 1700s

Every major world religion is represented in India. Additionally, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism all originated in India.

About 80% of Indians are Hindu. Muslims are the largest minority in India and form approximately 13% of the country’s population. In fact, India has the third largest population of Muslims in the world, after Indonesia and pakistan.

The banyan, or Indian fig tree, is considered a symbol of immortality and is mentioned in many Indian myths and legends. This self-renewing plant is India’s national tree.

Sushruta performing a plastic surgery

Most historians agree that the first recorded account of plastic surgery is found in ancient Indian Sanskrit texts.

The Himalaya includes the highest peak in the world—Everest. The mountain range stretches about 1,500 miles long and is over 29,029 ft at its highest.

There are 27 UNESCO heritage sites in India. These protected areas help to protect the long culture and history of the country.

The Indian flag is ‘tri colored’. Saffron—courage and sacrifice; white—truth, peace, and purity; green—prosperity. The Ashok Chakra—righteousness.

The national animal is the Royal Bengal Tiger. Nearly extinct, it enjoys a national reserve where it is protected.

The Ganga is the longest river in India and is considered sacred by Hindus. It has the most populated river basin in the world.

India is home to the world’s largest pilgrimage destination called the Vishnu Temple. The temple is located in the city of Tirupati. About an average of 30,000 people visit this temple donating about $6 million US dollars, everyday.

Yoga originated in India about 5,000 years ago.

India is one of six countries that has launched satellites.

Ayurveda is known to mankind as being the “earliest school of medicine”. Charaka, the father of medicine consolidated this form of medicine about 2500 years ago.

Aerial View of Nalanda University, Bihar

Nalanda University was one of the world’s first residential universities. It accommodated over 10,000 students and 2,000 teachers. The university was considered an architectural masterpiece, and was marked by a lofty wall and one gate. Nalanda had eight separate compounds and ten temples, along with many other meditation halls and classrooms. On the grounds were lakes and parks. The library was located in a nine storied building where meticulous copies of texts were produced.

The highest bridge in the world is the Bailey bridge, which is situated in Ladakh between the Dras and Suru rivers in the Himalayan mountain range.

The only country in the world that has a Bill of Rights for Cows is India.

The longest station name on the Indian Railways is Venkatanarasimharajuvariapeta.

Everyday more than 4000 Dabbawallas pick up more than 100,000 lunches at homes in Mumbai, India, and deliver their lunches to their places of work with an accuracy rate of 99.99%

When many cultures were only nomadic forest dwellers over 5000 years ago, Indians established Harappan culture in Sindhu Valley (Indus Valley Civilization)

Algebra, Trigonometry and Calculus are studies, which originated in India.

The ‘Place Value System’ and the ‘Decimal System’ were developed in India in 100 B.C.

The World’s First Granite Temple is the Brihadeswara Temple at Tanjavur, Tamil Nadu

Islam is India’s and the world’s second largest religion.

The oldest European church and synagogue in India are in the city of Cochin. They were built in 1503 and 1568 respectively

Sikhism originated in the Holy city of Amritsar in Punjab. Famous for housing the Golden Temple, the city was founded in 1577

Ancient sketch of Benaras

Varanasi, also known as Benaras, was called “the Ancient City” when Lord Buddha visited it in 500 B.C., and is one of the oldest, continuously inhabited city in the world today

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Interview | Creative Spaces at Aditi

What makes a great workplace? We all have our own ideas about what makes a great workplace. There are a lot of things to be considered as indispensable in a top workplace, it’s important that it make you feel innovative, productive and inspired.

Aditi is one such place; here is what they have to say about their workplace and their wall art in office. You can also visit their blog to know more.

“Aditi help businesses accelerate their revenue growth through Systems of Customer Engagement. By bringing together market leading expertise across cloud, design, analytics and mobile, we help businesses engage, understand and monetize their customers.”

The Litehouse

Q: The human spirit, the spark for creativity, can be sparked by absolutely anything…so what sparked your creativity to paint the walls at workplace?

At Aditi, our culture is one of creativity. We consider ourselves inherent geeks in the work we do, the technology that we work with every day and our passions, such as hacking, coding and video gaming marathons. An environment full of geeks is an especially creative one where crazy and awesome ideas are constantly driving the way we collaborate and bring out solutions for our customers. In order to make this environment conducive, the Aditians were allowed to paint their bay walls and customize their workplaces to create the space that best reflects themselves and the work they do. The idea was sparked by the employees of Aditi and the geek in us was thrilled to implement this.

Q: “Great ideas come in a great workplace. And great workplaces have great workstations.” Isn’t this a new concept of 21st century workplace?

Traditional workplaces have workstations and cubicles that are geared more towards the individual. But in today’s day and age, collaboration is the key to building a successful team that can ship great ideas and solutions. While working together, employees need to create a space that inspires them as a team. By breaking away from the conventional workstation system, employees can create work areas that suit their personality, hence fostering an environment where they build a space they can call their own.

Q: So, who came up with this idea?

Aditians came up with this idea. In this instance we allowed individual teams to come up with ideas and suggestions. Each team wanted to create their own personal space that inspired them to come up with great ideas, awesome code and amazing solutions. Once the idea was executed, more employees wanted to try the same in their work areas and we let them go for it!

From inception, Aditi has always believed in creating an environment that is not just another workplace, but one that employees want to come to each day and enjoy themselves, as they work. This initiative was a move to create that feel.

Q: What was the inspiration/ideas/themes/concept behind these various wall art?

Being a collection of art, caricatures and graffiti, every Aditian who participated in the wall-painting session brought out their inner geek and painted what inspired them the most. If you look at the wall art, it is a reflection of all the images, visuals and memories that have inspired each employee and best reflects themselves.

Q: Was there any time-frame and budget involved? Do give the details.

There was no time frame involved. The best illustrators and artists from each team came with their colors and pallets one day and began working on each wall.

Q: Do you have a design team? What kind other fun design work do they indulge in?

Every Aditian is naturally a designer. We bring awesome design into every aspect of our work and in order to be able to do this, we to have a space that inspires and fosters creativity. The regular employees aside we also have a team called Aditi Litehouse which focuses on creating amazing artwork, user interfaces and designs for our customers.

Q: What’s the next fun thing you are planning?

At Aditi, one can never say! It’s all up to the employees. The Aditians come up with crazy and whacky ideas to make Aditi a great place to work and if it was wall art yesterday, it could be roof art or bay decorations tomorrow, a hackathon or a video game marathon. We’ll just have to wait and see 🙂

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The Other Side of the Story also known as TOSS is the section where we decide to feature and discuss designs. Have any fanciful places you have seen? That awesome workplace you would die to work at? That chic spa just loved the interiors. Have been to that trendy restaurant that everyone is talking about? Or that modish building that you ogle at every time you pass by. Let’s talk about it here. In TOSS section, once every month, we feature those brilliant places through exclusive interviews and reviews separately.

Here is what you can do: contact us for any such places you seen or been to, bring us the contact, or you can even write and mail it to us. Simple, isn’t it? Go ahead hunt it down!

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It’s mid year and we are celebrating!

This is that time of the year when we celebrate our midyear party at KGD Architecture. This year we combined our midyear party with Iftar on 10th of July. Amidst the Bangalore rain and busy work schedules, the directors and employees of KGD took time off to be a part of the midyear celebration. Managing Director, Nejeeb Khan greeted everyone to an evening of enlightenment and fun. The evening started with a presentation talking about the year of turnaround at KGD highlighting International Expansion, Knowledge Center Development, New Projects, Promotions and Fun awards/recognition.

Nejeeb Khan, MD greets everyone

Knowledge Center:

Executive Director Ajay Gupta spoke about various knowledge centers and departments inviting departmental heads to talk about the teams and processes. Ajay said, “Since the last 6-7 years we grew internally, we grew project-wise and have been talking about knowledge centers. But this is the year when we are formalizing the concept of knowledge center.”

KGD is partnering with an Oman based company to broaden our presence in the global market. Shameer Mohamed has been appointed as Studio Head in Oman.

Shameer Mohamed and Ajay Gupta

Shameer and Shivalika

New Projects:

A whole new range of completed projects were showcased under various sectors like Residential, Commercial, Master Planning and Corporate. The MD congratulated every team that were involved saying “Before we were always chasing numbers, but now we are a brand and are being recognized everywhere because of the kind of work we have done at the various airports & hospitals.”

In the last few years we have become one of the front runners for Real Estate projects. We have designed some of the best upbeat high-rises, affordable living spaces and master plans. There are other sectors where we have done tremendous also like Healthcare, Hospitality and Resorts, Offices, Retails etc.

Real Estate:

Shobha City

Team: Shiv, Shanthi, Veda teams

Jain Heights, West Grand

Team: Shiv, Shanthi, Veda & Engineering teams

Salahuddin’s House, Dubai

Teams: Shiv, Shivani & Shanthi teams

Provident, Herohalli

Teams: Shiv, Shameer & Shanthi teams

Flora Athirapally

Teams: Sriram & Shanthi teams

Flora Vythiri

Teams: Shameer, Sriram & Shanthi teams

Shimmering Heights

Teams: Shameer team

Nest – Campus Wood

Teams: Shiv & Veda teams

AFNHB

Teams: Veda, Sriram, Engineering & QS team

Saideep Estates

Teams: Shameer & Shiv teams

Alpha-G-Corp

Teams: Shanthi, Shiv & Delhi team

Commercial:

Chintel Plaza, Gurgaon

Team: Shiv & Delhi Office

W H Smith

Team: PMC

Master Planning:

Vars & Kens Developers

Teams: Shiv, Akthar & Engineering teams

KEF Industrial Park

Teams: Shanthi

Corporate:

Autodesk

Team: Sudheera, PMC & Engineering teams

SAP

Team: Sudheera & Engineering teams

L&T ECC Deloitte, Hyderabad

Team: Shiv team

Mfar, Manyata Tech Park

Teams: Shameer, Shiv & Shanthi teams

Model Industrial Park

Teams: Shameer, Shiv & Delhi Office

Shoppers Mall

Teams: Shameer & Shiv teams

Hospitality:

Landmark

Team: Khaiber

IBIS – Goa

Team: Prasanna

Resort in Hoskote

Team: Sriram & Veda’s teams

Healthcare:

Sant Nirakari

Team: Shiv & Prasanna’s teams

DM Dubai Palace Hospital

Team: Shiv

Ashwini Medical Hospital

Team: Prasanna

DM Ero Aster

Team: Sudheera & Prasanna’s teams

MIMS Perinthalmanna

Team: Prasanna

MWCH Hospital – Dubai

Team: Sudheera & Prasanna’s teams

Columbia Asia – Whitefield

Team: Khaiber & Prasanna’s teams

Oxford Teaching Hospital

Team: Prasanna

PHS – Calicut

Team: Shanti

Transport:

LnT Metro Station – Hyderabad

Team: Shivani

BIAL Airport Plaza

Team: Shameer

Pranaam Lounge – GVL, MIAL

Team: Shivani & PMC team

Bali International Airport

Team: Shivani

Bali Domestic Airport

Team: Khaiber

Kimaya – MIAL

Team: PMC

Celebrating KGD culture:

It is really the people who make KGD a fun place to work. Everyone here is a hands-on contributor and feels comfortable sharing ideas and opinions. As our Director, Shivalika Midha points out, “a successful organization starts with great company culture. Company values, vision and guidelines define a business and, ultimately, its performance.”

All newbies introducing themselves

All newbies introduce themselves

Four committees were formed / revived:

Design Cell & Design Competitions

Urban Design

Historic Restoration

Revival of 360 degrees

Shivani Gour talks about Revival of 360 degrees

The HR calendar was rolled for year full of excitement and fun. Gear up for a series of in-house training, sports day, creativity contests, team lunches, social responsibilities like cleaning up the neighborhood, visiting orphanage, day trips, annual party etc.

“It is important to recognize everyone and boost their good work further.” Says Nejeeb Khan as the promotion lists were announced and the fun awards were given away.

Prayers followed by traditional Iftar food. It was time to dig into the deliciously laid out menu at the buffet. It was an enjoyable evening with everyone. The midyear & Iftar party ended with more ideas, more enthusiasm with lots of happy faces recharged to do something new, to face a new challenge to move ahead!